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Blog Author: Larry Rowe

Interest in lecture webcasting has been picking up. As noted in earlier blog posts, TalkMiner has received some good publicity recently. Now, I am mentioned in a U.S. News & World Report article about the webcasting system I built at U.C. Berkeley.

AT&T Bell Labs has recently made their entire archive of the Bell Systems Technical Journal (BSTJ) available for free on-line. The collection goes all the way back to 1922. In fact, the first issue has an article on the transmission characteristics of the submarine cable. For example, in 1978 an entire issue of the journal was dedicated to a new operating system called Unix.

Just a short note to point at two articles on Facebook that discuss issues relating to streaming media and the home. It is a continuing frustration that the vendors are not building the open environment we all want. No surprise there. But it is interesting that even when a vendor (Apple) has many of the required pieces it does not put them together well.

First note: my posting about the Sonos system I have installed at home. I am a big fan of Sonos – we now use our iPad sitting by the TV to control it. Now, if we could just get control and inter-operation between more devices.

Second note: Surendar Chandra has an interesting take on how Apple has all the pieces needed to make for a better environment but they don’t seem to do it.

James Landay raised the right idea – it is time for systems people in the CHI community to take control of UIST. That conference was setup in the 1980’s because systems papers were being excluded from CHI. So, rather than complain, I think a half dozen senior people in CHI community should get themselves on the UIST program committee, including the Chair. Then, make the conference you want it to be.